The present subject matter relates generally to a systems and methods for cleaning printing rolls. More specifically, the present invention relates to a micro-fiber anilox cleaning plate that may be used to clean an anilox roll with minimal downtime and expense.
Anilox Rolls are used in several printing industries like offset printing, process printing and flexography or “flexo” printing to provide a measured amount of ink to a printing plate. An anilox roll is a hard cylinder, usually constructed of a steel or an aluminum core which is coated by an industrial ceramic whose surface contains millions of very fine dimples, known as cells. Depending on the design of the printing press, the anilox roll is either semi-submerged in the ink fountain, or comes into contact with a so-called metering roller, which is semi-submerged in the ink fountain. The anilox roll then rotates to contact with the printing plate to receive the ink for transfer to the printed material.
A serious problem plaguing anilox rolls is the tendency of the cells of the roll to slowly fill and become plugged with dry ink. Anilox rollers that are used with water, solvent and oil based inks must be cleaned immediately after use or a problem known as plugging occurs, where minuscule amounts of ink dry in the cells. The presences of dry ink in the cells causes tiny, but unacceptable, pinholes in anything printed from the roll in the future. Accordingly, proper maintenance of anilox rolls requires regular cleaning to maintain print quality.
By their nature, anilox rolls are difficult to clean. Anilox rolls are incorporated into large presses with large numbers of parts that must be present near the roll for operation. This limits access to the roll for the purposes of cleaning. Additionally, large anilox rolls may be only movable by crane, making it difficult to remove a roll for cleaning. Even for small rolls, extreme caution must be taken when handling these pieces of hardware. A single bump against a hard surface or sharp corner can destroy the delicate cell structure on the surface and render a roller completely useless, at a cost of around US$5000 for even small narrow-web rollers. Accordingly, methods of cleaning anilox rolls in place are preferred.
One previous method of cleaning anilox rolls in place is the use of brushes. Using brushes on anilox rolls has risks; it is important not to use the wrong type of brush on a roll. Nicks and scratches cause by a brush may add up quickly, so fine brushes (never brass brushes) are used for cleaning the anilox roll. For anilox rolls with special coatings, manufacturers may recommend against using brushes altogether. Additionally, the bristle tips of a brush are generally larger than the cells of anilox rollers used in most flexo printing. Thus, the bristles do not get into the cells, and brushing only breaks the film of ink on top of the cell walls, potentially leaving ink deposited within the cells.
Previous approaches to cleaning anilox rolls faced serious drawbacks and tradeoffs. Common cleaning methods have included: baking soda blast, plastic bead blast, dry ice blast, ultrasonic (small rolls only) and chemicals. Each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages. Common disadvantages include expensive or time-consuming cleaning, the need to remove the anilox roll from the press, and importantly, the need for downtime to perform the cleaning. Thus, there is a need for easy-to-use, down-time free (that is, it may be used during production), inexpensive, alternative way to clean wide web anilox rolls.
Accordingly, there is a need for micro-fiber cleaning plate and systems and methods for cleaning anilox rolls, as described herein.